A new 3D culture system to identify disease-relevant genes in colorectal cancer [Microarray expression]

It is increasingly appreciated that properties of cultured epithelial cells differ dramatically in 2D compared to 3D, and the latter more faithfully recapitulates in vivo behavior. By studying a battery of human colorectal cancer (CRC) cell lines in type-1 collagen, we have found that HCA-7 cells form colonies with two distinctive and persistent morphological and functional properties. We observed predominantly single-layered polarized cysts (cystic colonies, CC) and a smaller fraction displaying disorganized solid masses (spiky colonies, SC) that were highly invasive in vivo. Despite overall genomic similarity, CC and SC exhibited distinct and dynamic patterns of gene expression in 3D.

6

Li C, Singh B, Graves-Deal R, Ma H, Starchenko A, Fry WH, Lu Y, Wang Y, Bogatcheva G, Khan MP, Milne GL, Zhao S, Ayers GD, Li N, Hu H, Washington MK, Yeatman TJ, McDonald OG, Liu Q, Coffey RJ